Prisons and custodial justice: reforming India’s jails

The India Justice Report 2025 calls Indian prisons warehouses of injustice, and the numbers make the phrase hard to dispute. National average occupancy runs at 131 per cent, with 176 prisons holding more than twice their capacity, and three out of every four inmates are undertrials, people not yet convicted of any crime. Prisons are a State subject under Entry 4, List II of the Seventh Schedule, governed still by the colonial Prisons Act of 1894. This article examines the overcrowding and undertrial crises, the committee lineage from Mulla to Amitava Roy, the Supreme Court’s interventions, the custodial torture question, and the new Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act of 2023.

Prisons connect directly to our articles on police reforms and the criminal justice system: the undertrial crisis begins with arrest and investigation, and custodial torture is policing’s darkest accountability failure. Read together, the three form one chain of the coercive state.

The numbers: overcrowding and the undertrial tragedy

Start with the scale. National average prison occupancy is 131 per cent, with 176 prisons at more than 200 per cent occupancy; Moradabad District Prison in Uttar Pradesh runs at 497 per cent, the highest in the country. Capacity is not keeping up: the projected inmate population by 2030 is 6.8 lakh against an expected capacity of only 5.15 lakh. But the deepest wound is the undertrial population. Seventy-six per cent of prison inmates are undertrials, up from 66 per cent in 2012: 4.39 lakh undertrials out of roughly 5.77 lakh inmates. Twenty-two per cent of undertrials spend between one and three years in jail, up from 18 per cent in 2012. Bail hurdles keep the poor inside: surety requirements and financial barriers block release, and only about 15 per cent get timely legal aid. The detention is also skewed: 66 per cent of undertrials come from SC, ST and OBC communities.

Staffing and care inside are equally thin. The inmate-to-staff ratio is nearly double the benchmark, and the doctor-to-prisoner ratio stands at 1:775 against the Model Prison Manual norm of 1:300. There are only 25 psychologists or psychiatrists for 5.7 lakh prisoners, one per 22,929 inmates against a benchmark of one per 500. Open prisons, the humane end of the system, are underutilised: only 86 open prisons exist for more than 5.7 lakh inmates. Independent oversight is weak, with Boards of Visitors inactive in many states.

The committee lineage: Mulla to Amitava Roy

Prison reform thinking in India begins with the Mulla Committee (1980-83), the All-India Committee on Jail Reforms, which recommended a National Prisons Commission as a monitoring body, a uniform prisons law for the entire country, professionalisation of prison administration through an Indian Prisons Service, expansion of open prisons, and after-care services for released prisoners. Four decades later, most of these remain on paper. The Justice Amitava Roy Committee (September 2018) recommended active use of plea bargaining, the presence of lawyers during police interrogation, mandatory free legal aid, and special fast-track courts for undertrial cases. The Law Commission’s 268th Report (2017) recommended easier bail for indigent accused, personal bonds without sureties, and bail review every three months for undertrials. The same year’s 273rd Report recommended an Anti-Torture Bill and ratification of UNCAT.

The courtroom push: speedy trial and the D.K. Basu code

The Supreme Court has repeatedly read prison conditions through Article 21. In Hussainara Khatoon v. State of Bihar (1979), the Court held that the right to speedy trial is part of the right to life and personal liberty, the judgment that first gave the undertrial crisis constitutional language. In D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal (1997), the Court laid down eleven mandatory guidelines on arrest and custodial procedures: the arrest memo, identification of the arrestee, medical examination, and informing the family among them. In Ramamurthy v. State of Karnataka (1997), the Court recommended a uniform prison law across India. The compensation principle for custodial violations was set in Nilabati Behera (1993).

Custodial torture: the missing law

Custodial torture, the physical, psychological or sexual abuse of a person in the custody of law enforcement agencies, is the sharp end of the accountability crisis. The structural causes are familiar from policing: a confession-centric investigation culture, pressure to solve cases quickly (the Hyderabad Disha case of December 2019 is the cited example), inadequate training in scientific interrogation, overwork, and a code of silence inside the force. India signed the UN Convention Against Torture in 1997 but has not ratified it, and there is no standalone anti-torture law. Per MHA data cited in the sources, 170 custodial deaths were reported across India in the first 75 days of 2026, with annual figures over the past five years ranging between 140 and 176, and only one case of disciplinary action over five years. The sources also record near-zero convictions for custodial violence over recent years.

The reform consensus on this front is clear and long-standing: ratify UNCAT and enact the Anti-Torture Bill as per the Law Commission’s 273rd Report; enforce the eleven D.K. Basu guidelines strictly, with digital tracking; complete CCTV coverage under the Paramvir Singh Saini (2020) mandate; shift the burden of proof to the police for custodial injuries and deaths; strengthen the NHRC’s investigative capacity; and move investigation from confession-centric to forensic and scientific methods.

The new instruments: the 2023 Model Act and BNSS Section 479

Recent years have produced new instruments, though their implementation is the real test. The Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act, 2023, building on the Model Prison Manual of 2016, is the Centre’s template for states to modernise prison law, with its emphasis on correctional services rather than mere custody. Section 479 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita provides for the release of undertrials after serving half of the maximum sentence, or one-third for first-time offenders. Undertrial Review Committees are now mandatory in every district and meet quarterly to review release eligibility. E-Prisons software integrates prison management with the Interoperable Criminal Justice System, and video conferencing now covers about 86 per cent of prisons. The way forward the sources converge on: implement the 2023 Model Act, enforce Section 479 strictly, activate the Undertrial Review Committees, expand open prisons on Rajasthan’s Sanganer model, strengthen free legal aid through the Para-Legal Volunteer network, create the All India Prison Service the Mulla Committee proposed, and push decongestion through plea bargaining, probation, parole and bail reform.

Key Terms

• Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act, 2023: The Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act, 2023 is the template prison law circulated by the Ministry of Home Affairs in May 2023 for states to adapt, since prisons fall in the State List. It seeks to replace the 1894 Prisons Act with a correctional philosophy, providing for prisoner classification, vocational training, open correctional institutions, separate lodgings for women and transgender prisoners, and tech-enabled administration. It is the current reference for UPSC answers on prison modernisation.
• Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act: The Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act is the model law circulated by the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2023 to help states replace the colonial Prisons Act of 1894. Prisons being a State List subject, it is advisory. It reframes prisons as correctional institutions, and covers classification of prisoners, separate accommodation for women and transgender inmates, open prisons, parole and furlough, and use of technology. For UPSC it links prison reform to reformation rather than retribution.
• Justice Amitava Roy Committee: The Justice Amitava Roy Committee is a three-member panel the Supreme Court appointed in 2018 to examine prison administration, following the Inhuman Conditions in 1382 Prisons judgment. Headed by retired judge Amitava Roy, it submitted five reports on overcrowding, women inmates and death-row prisoners. Key recommendations include one lawyer for every 30 prisoners, a free phone call for new inmates, fast-track courts for petty offences and ending solitary confinement of death-row convicts. It anchors questions on prison reform in GS-2. its reports, made public in 2024, called solitary confinement of death-row convicts a most egregious violation
• National Prisons Commission: The National Prisons Commission is a proposed continuing body recommended by the All India Committee on Jail Reforms, the Mulla Committee of 1980-83, to modernise prisons and bring uniformity across states. It was never constituted, since prisons remain a state subject and reform depends on state governments. For UPSC, it is invoked in answers on prison overcrowding, undertrial detention, and the gap between committee recommendations and implementation. The Supreme Court's Rama Murthy v. State of Karnataka judgment noted the neglect of such reform proposals.
• All-India Committee: The All-India Committee on Jail Reforms of 1980, chaired by Justice A.N. Mulla, reviewed India's prison laws, rules and administration with the twin aims of protecting society and rehabilitating offenders. It recommended open prisons in every state on the model of Rajasthan's Sanganer camp, separation of undertrial prisoners from convicts, and aftercare services. Its report remains the standard reference for UPSC answers on prison reform, undertrial overcrowding and correctional justice. Rajasthan's Sanganer open camp, the model the Mulla Committee recommended replicating
• Anti-Torture Act: There is no Anti-Torture Act in force in India. The term points to the long-pending legislative gap: India signed the UN Convention Against Torture in 1997 but has not ratified it. The Prevention of Torture Bill, 2010, which would have defined and punished torture by public servants, passed the Lok Sabha in May 2010 but lapsed with the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha in 2014. For UPSC it is the standard example of a missing statute in human-rights governance. Example: custodial-death cases, such as the 2020 Thoothukudi deaths, are routinely cited in demands for the law.
• Seventh Schedule: The Seventh Schedule of the Constitution divides legislative subjects between the Union and the states through three lists: the Union List for Parliament alone (defence, foreign affairs, railways), the State List for state legislatures (police, public health, agriculture), and the Concurrent List where both can legislate, with Parliament prevailing in conflict. It is the operational core of Indian federalism. Education sits on the Concurrent List after the 42nd Amendment moved it there in 1976.
• Mulla Committee: The Mulla Committee was the All India Committee on Jail Reforms (1980-83) headed by Justice A.N. Mulla, which submitted the landmark report on modernising Indian prisons. It recommended a national prison policy, classification of prisoners, open prisons, aftercare and rehabilitation services, and treating imprisonment as correction rather than punishment. Its ideas shaped the later Model Prisons Manual and remain the starting point for UPSC answers on prison reform. Its recommendation that prisons function as correctional institutions underpins the 2023 model prisons law.
• Law Commission: The Law Commission is a non-statutory advisory body the government constitutes from time to time to recommend legal reform. Since the first commission in 1955 it has produced reports that became major statutes, and its recent references include the Uniform Civil Code and simultaneous elections. The 22nd Law Commission's term ended in 2024 and the 23rd was constituted in 2024. UPSC treats its reports as the standard citation for GS-2 questions on legal reform, from sedition to electoral law. its 2018 consultation paper on the Uniform Civil Code is cited in every UCC debate
• Prisons Act: The Prisons Act, 1894 is the colonial-era statute governing prison administration in India, covering the duties of jail officers, classification of prisoners, discipline and inspections. Prisons fall under the State List, so states frame their own jail manuals under it, and its archaic provisions are a staple of prison-reform debates. The Home Ministry's Model Prisons and Correctional Services Act, 2023 was drafted to replace it.
• Article 21: Article 21 guarantees that no person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law. Through judicial interpretation, beginning with Maneka Gandhi (1978), it has expanded to cover dignity, privacy, and a clean environment. It is the most litigated Fundamental Right and central to GS-2 polity. the Supreme Court reading privacy into Article 21 in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017).
• Model Act: A Model Act is a draft law prepared by the Union government as a template for states to adopt, with modifications, on subjects in the State or Concurrent List. It lets the Centre harmonise policy across states without Parliament legislating directly on state subjects. Model Acts matter for UPSC because they illustrate cooperative federalism and the limits of central law-making, for instance in police, prisons and land matters. The Model Shops and Establishments Act circulated by the Centre as a template for states modernising their labour laws.

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